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New on Netflix: Dear White People

When the film that inspired the college drama series came out in 2014, it created a fascinating world at Winchester University, a mostly-white, Ivy League-like college. Dear White People on Netflix still inhabits that world but has been updated to 2017 and includes the requisite TGIT Scandal (well, not exactly Scandal but it’s very-much-inspired-by clone) watch parties and slang and yet still acknowledges it’s inspiration from the past (see School Daze, Clueless, A Different World, She’s Gotta Have It, etc.). You’ll also find it even better than the Justin Simien original since the characters and their plot lines can be fleshed out more depth.

If you saw the film, Winchester and the new characters will feel familiar. To wit: Samantha White (the stunning Logan Browning) is a pot-stirring DJ at the college station at the center of the story. Or is she? Moments from the episodes are revisited repeatedly but from different perspectives of the diverse characters. It’s a sort of Rashomon meets Do the Right Thing – and if you think that sounds good, you’re right. The talented writers and a strong cast are supported by some greats with Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins of Moonlight fame helming an episode.